- As reported on the net already, the WWF has reached an agreement
with Jim Cornette to bring in Cornette's Heavenly Bodies from Smoky
Mountain Wrestling. Although the local paper reports the Bodies as
being Tom Prichard & Stan Lane, that's probably just another oversight
by the columnist since the new Bodies are Tom Prichard
Jimmy Del Rey. They will take on the Steiners in a WWF Tag Title match
at SummerSlam on 08/30.
Jim Cornette will also work in Yokozuna's corner at SummerSlam, when
Yokozuna faces Lex Luger for the WWF Title.
- The local reporter says that Roddy Piper has opened a wrestling
school in Los Angeles. Rumour has it the first three lessons are on
poking your opponent in the eyes.
- WCW has a Clash of Champions scheduled for 08/18/93. Rumoured
line-up:
* Davey Boy Smith vs. Van Vader for the WCW title (if Vader gets
disqualified, he loses the belt)
* Steve Austin & Brian Pillman vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma for the
Tag Titles
* Rick Steamboat vs. Paul Orndorff for the TV title
* Rick Rude & The Equalizer vs. Dustin Rhodes & Hawk
* Johnny B. Badd vs. Maxx Payne
* Sting vs. Awesome Kong
* Steve Regal vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
* "Flair For The Gold" special segment
Cactus Jack is supposed to return to WCW at this show and from the way
things have been going, I'd guess he'd interfere in Vader's match to
save Davey Boy (and get him DQ'ed) and help set up the Vader vs. Jack
match on PPV two months later.
This will probably be the last "Flair For The Gold" segment we see.
- The Rick Rude vs. Ric Flair feud started rolling at tapings this
week in Huntsville, Alabama. Rude wooed Flair's "maid" Fifi away from
the Nature Boy and then beat up Flair on his "Flair for The Gold" set.
It's unclear whether this will air before the Clash of after, but with
the Clash a few weeks away, one would bet on it airing before. Flair
is noticeably absent from the wrestling line-up for the Clash, so I
suppose he could "answer" Rude's actions on the show. Yeah, we know
what's gonna happen, but this could be a great feud with great
matches.
- The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/93. Tentative matches include:
* Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger for the WWF Title
* Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart to decide the King of the WWF
* Shawn Michaels vs. Curt Hennig for the IC Title
* Steiners vs. Heavenly Bodies for the Tag Titles
* Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales in an "R.I.P. match"
* 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon vs. Ted DiBiase & I.R.S.
* Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Tatanka
* Doinks vs. Crush & Marty Janetty
* Adam Bomb vs. Tito Santana
We don't yet know the stipulations of the "R.I.P. match," but it's
supposed to be Gonzales' last match with the WWF.
- The WWF has fired referee Joey Morella. Word has it that Gino
"Gorilla Monsoon" Morella is going to quit as a sign of his
displeasure. Boy, what a blow to the lower occipital protuberance!
- Van Hammer has entered the WWF.
- 1-2-3 Kid is going to have house show matches with Shawn Michaels
after SummerSlam.
- WCW has the Fall Brawl PPV on 09/19/93. Tentative matches include:
* Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the NWA Title
* Sid Vicious & Van Vader & Harlem Heat vs. Dustin Rhodes & Davey
Boy Smith & Sting & Hawk in a Wargames match
- UWFi from Japan will run a shoot-style PPV on 10/05/93. There was a
letter to the editor in the Observer from somebody within UWFi in
Tokyo. He said that they are going to mount "a very difficult and very
expensive television ad campaign. [They're] aiming at the pro
wrestling audience, the boxing audience, the martial arts audience,
and anyone else who enjoys a real, true contest of ability, technique
and guts. It's a tough sport, but a respectful one."
I had a chance to see the 05/06/93 UWFi card which feature the debut
of Super Vader in the group. New Japan stopped them from billing Vader
as Big Van Vader, although the commentators referred to him as Big Van
Vader and mentioned he was WCW champion. Vader had the WCW title and
threw it aside as he went to the ring. He squashed Tatsuo Nakano in
about 5 minutes. Nobuhiko Takada is the Japanese star of the promotion
and they are pushing Gary Albright as their top foreigner. Albright
will be familiar to many as a pseudo-jobber in WCW (I only ever
remember his tag partners doing the job) and as Vokkan Singh in
Calgary.
The matches in this promotion are pretty slow by pro-style standards
and concentrate a lot on leverage and submission moves. When somebody
hits any variation of a German suplex, though, the crowd always pops
big and the move always looks a little more brutal than we're used to
seeing it look. It was weird seeing Vader in this style.
- WCW has Halloween Havoc on PPV on 10/24/93 (tentative date).
Tentative line-up will include:
* Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack in a "Spin the Wheel, Make The Deal"
match.
* Nasty Boys vs. Ric Flair & Paul Roma for the Tag Titles
* Sting vs. Sid Vicious
- WCW has the Lethal Lottery on PPV on 11/21/93 and Starrcade just
after Christmas.
- The WWF has Survivor Series on PPV on 11/25/93 (previously reported
as 11/24/93; it now seems to have moved to Thanksgiving) at 8:00 pm.
- In a bold move, WCW will run a Clash live from Wembley Stadium in
London, England, on 11/25/93 starting at 8:00pm London time. This
means that the show will air here on WTBS at 3:00 pm. This could prove
interesting.
- Videos: The compilation tapes (Japan 1981-1983 & Japan 1984-1987)
will remain available until the end of Friday or so (when most of you
will read this). They won't be available while I'm in Edmonton and
will be available again in the new year.